Championship leader Zarco tops Moto2™ combined timesheets

Current Moto2™ World Championship leader Johann Zarco sets the pace on Thursday at the Motul TT Assen.

Ajo Motorsport’s Zarco, who leads Tito Rabat by 40 points in the championship standings, set a 1’37.670 to end the first day of Moto2™ Free Practice on top, 0.196s ahead of Simone Corsi on the Athina Forward Racing Kalex.

Zarco left it until his very last lap of FP2 to set his fastest time of the day, as riders enjoyed the ideal track conditions that greeted them at the TT Circuit Assen for both sessions. Zarco’s time was just over five-tenths slower than the outright lap record at the 4.5km track, set by Marc Marquez (1’37.133) in 2012.

Corsi took advantage of a tow from Tito Rabat to end the day in second, with Speed Up Racing’s Sam Lowes (+0.208s), who had topped FP1 earlier, in third. AGR Team’s Jonas Folger (+0.278s) was fourth, with Alex Marquez on the second EG 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex (+0.482s) impressing in fifth. Federal Oil Gresini Moto2’s Xavier Simeon (+0.490s) finished sixth on the combined timesheets, with Dominique Aegerter (Technomag Racing Interwetten), Tito Rabat (EG 0,0 Marc VDS), and Alex Rins completing the top ten.

The only riders to crash throughout the day were Ratthapark Wilairot and wild card Jasper Iwema, who both went down in FP2, but walked away unhurt.